SEO Tips for Big City Retailers

Businesses that operate in small cities and towns can get terrific results from standard local SEO practices. If you have a storefront in a big city, though, you will need to take a slightly different approach to attract customers.

Start with these three tips. When done well, they can produce dramatic results.

Choose Hyper-Local Keywords

A coffee shop in Louisville, KY can get good search engine positions by using local keyword phrases like “coffee in Louisville” or “Louisville coffee shop.” It’s a relatively small city, so companies can get decent results from these basic phrases.

A coffee shop in New York City faces a different SEO challenge. NYC has hundreds of coffee shops. Using “coffee in New York” isn’t going to do much for your search engine position.

Taking a hyper-local approach will make it easier for you to attract customers and distinguish your company from those in other parts of the city. For instance, a coffee shop in Midtown Manhattan might consider keyword phrases like “coffee shop in Midtown.”

You can get even more specific to help people find options near them. If your Midtown coffee shop is in Murray Hill, use more local keyword phrases like “Murray Hill cafe” and “coffee in Murray Hill.”

Add More Info About Your Company

These days, search engines like Google often focus on the needs of smartphone users. When you search for a type of business, Google will show you a map that specifies locations near you.

A 250-character description that provides more information about your business.

A few recent photos of the storefront.

Your business’s category (grocery, restaurant, etc.)

Encourage Customers to Leave Accurate Reviews

When potential customers search for companies, they often find reviews written by other people. If your company doesn’t have any reviews, then you might look like an unpopular option that customers should avoid. Bad reviews, of course, can also hurt your reputation.

Encourage your customers to leave accurate reviews. Positive reviews will convince more people to try your location. Critical reviews will help you address customer concerns so you can improve your business. Regardless, you’ll look like a popular place that people want to visit.

Businesses should adapt their local SEO strategies so they can succeed in their specific environments. Use these three tips so you can improve your SEO results and attract more customers.

Ravi Dehar Ravi works on the marketing team at Homebase. In the past, Ravi has also worked at Yelp, SeatMe, and Google, helping local businesses save time and money.

Homebase makes managing hourly work easier for over 100,000 local businesses. With free employee scheduling, time tracking, team communication, and hiring, managers and employees can spend less time on paperwork and more time on growing their business.